PRODUCTION & DEVELOPMENT
Cedar Park, the independent studio formed by Chris Long and David Ayer, partnered with Jose Daniel Freixas, Tony Gonzalez and author T.J. English, the trio that teamed onThe Corporation: An Epic Story of the Cuban American Underworld, to develop The Exiles. The Cuban-focused project explores the most significant political events of the late 20thcentury.
Kenneth Branaghis set to star in and produce Entertainment One’s television adaptation of A Gentleman in Moscow, reports Deadline. The project, based on Tom Harper’s adaptation of Amor Towles’ novel, centers on a man ordered to spend the rest of his life inside a luxury hotel.
HBO ordered comedy pilot Mrs. Fletcher, based on The Leftovers author Tom Perrotta’s bestselling novel. Kathryn Hahn is attached to star with Nicole Holfcener set to direct and EP.
FreemantleMedia North America secured the rights to Mervyn Peake’s gothic fantasy book series Gormenghast. Neil Gaiman and Akiva Goldsman (A Beautiful Mind) will adapt the project for television.
Anthony Hemingway (Unsolved: The Murders of Tupac and the Notorious B.I.G.) is set to direct the premiere episode of USA/Syfy’s upcoming series The Purge, based on the hit film franchise.
NEW & RETURNING SERIES
Nat Geo WILD set April premieres for four series. The Adventures of Buckeye Bottoms returns Saturday, April 7 at 9p, Animal PD debuts Saturday, April 14 at 10p, and Alaska’s Grizzly Gauntlet bows Friday, April 27 at 9p, followed by The Mighty Northwest at 10p.
Best friends and home renovation experts Clint Robertson and Luke Caldwell improve Idaho’s capital city with home transformations in HGTV’s new series Boise Boys, bowing Wednesday, April 25 at 11p.
DISTRIBUTION
Quest, the new free over-the-air adventure and exploration TV network,launched in markets covering more than 52% of U.S. broadcast households in two months.Added to its list of distributors are TEGNA, Univision, Nexstar and more.
CASTING
Hugh Laurie will co-star Hulu’s six-part limited series Catch-22…. Eric Bana (Munich) signed to star opposite Connie Britton in Bravo anthology series Dirty John…. Katrina Lenk (The Band’s Visit) is set to recur on season 2 of CBS All Access drama The Good Fight.
HBO signed deals for Kathryn Newton, Robin Weigert, Merrin Dungey and Sarah Sokolovic to return for Season 2 of Big Little Lies. Also joining the series will be Crystal Fox (The Haves and the Have Nots) and Mo McRae (Den of Thieves).
DIGITAL DATA
Twitter renewed its streaming deal with Major League Baseball. The @MLB handle will host a game of the week with out-of-market live streaming of daytime games, which will be simulcasts of participating teams’ local TV broadcasts. Games are available in the U.S. for free to Twitter users as well as on connected devices via live.twitter.com/MLB and @MLB.
Spotify took the unconventional approach, for a company its size, of a direct listing for its debut on the New York Stock Exchange yesterday, selling shares directly to the public without intermediaries (or support from bankers). Said co-founder Daniel Elk of the move, “Spotify is not raising capital, and our shareholders and employees have been free to buy and sell our stock for years. So while [the public offering] puts us on a bigger stage, it doesn’t change who we are, what we are about, or how we operate.” Over 10 million shares of Spotify traded in the first 15 minutes, with shares closing at $149, 13% over the $132 reference price set by the NYSE (which accidentally raised the flag of Switzerland Tuesday morning to honor the Swedish company).
According to a Standard Media Index data timed to the IPO, among internet radio competitors, in February 2018 Spotify had the strongest growth, up +63 year-over-year, versus +5% for Pandora and a -6% decline for iHeartMedia. Pandora remains the leader in ad revenue market share with 62%, followed by Spotify (23%) and iHeartMedia (11%).
A new Snapchat feature lets users tag friends in snaps and upload them to stories (as they can do on Instagram), something Snap says “influencers/celebs will be particularly excited about.” In addition, a new video chat feature allows up to 16 friends to have a video chat together; up to 32 can join a group voice chat.
TV One and Urban One are marking the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. with a live stream of commemorative MLK50 events taking place in Memphis, Tennessee. Host Roland Martin is on location from the National Civil Rights Museum.
The International Academy of Digital Arts & Sciences announced the nominees for this year’s 22nd annual Webby Awards. Competing for Best Host (Podcasts and Digital Audio) are Oprah Winfrey, RuPaul, Questlove, Intercepted and Criminal Podcast. Nominees for comedy individual short or episode include The Simpsons’ Donald Trump’s First 100 Days in Office and Welcome to America with Gad Elmaleh and Ron Livingston.
GOING GLOBAL
Nippon Television Network Corporation, a leading broadcaster network in Japan, welcomes its first android employee, anchor Erica Aoi, on daily show PON! on Thursday, April 5. Erica is the first project between Osaka University, Kyoto University and the Advanced Telecommunications Research Institute International’s Japan and Science and Technology Agency Strategic Basic Research Programs.
Zee’s Global Content Hub is bringing a mixed slate of programs to MIPTV, including Indian drama Jeet Gyi Toh Piyaa Morre, wedding reality series Altar’d, pet lifestyle program Finding Fido and Life of Earth from Space.
British broadcaster ITV will peel back the curtain of fame with The Big Audition, a six-part entertainment series produced by Warner Bros.’ Twenty Twenty. Show follows a group of hopefuls trying to make it in different of fields.
Reel One Entertainment is launching its largest slate of TV movies at this year’s MIPTV, with 50 new titles in production for 2018. The company recently added five new Hallmark TV movies, including Cooking With Love.
RATINGS
Fox News Channel was the most-watched cable news channel for the 65th consecutive quarter in day and primetime, while MSNBC was the only cable news net that grew year-over-year in total day and prime (up +30% in viewers, to 1.86 million, and +20% among A25-54, to 405,000 in prime). FNC’s Hannity was the #1 cable news program in total viewers (3.2 million); Rachel Maddow Show took the crown in the news demo (664,000).
Comedy Central finished March as the top-rated, non-sports, ad-supported entertainment network in cable across total day among M18-34 and18-24. It was also one of the only two Top 20 entertainment networks in cable to post year-over-year grown among A18-49 (up 4%).
The Season 1 finale of FOX’s 9-1-1 (3.1/12 Live+7, up +82% from Live+SD) ranked as Wednesday night’s top program, garnering a multi-platform average audience of 12.9 million viewers. In addition, Masterchef Junior (1.3/6 Live+7, +62% from Lives+SD) was Friday’s #1 entertainment program for the second week in a row.
A number of major syndicated shows rebounded from the opening round of March Madness and saw ratings bounce back in the session ending March 25. Judge Judy garnered a 6.7 Live+SD national Nielsen rating and was syndication’s highest show overall for the fifth week in a row, even though its primary run did not air on multiple days in many of the country’s largest markets due to basketball and storm coverage.
Most of the top talkers were also winners. Dr. Phil (3.0, up 7%) widened its lead over the talk shows despite being in reruns for most of the week. Second place Live with Kelly and Ryan (2.3, steady) and third place Ellen DeGeneres (2.2, up 5%) both grew 5% from the same week last year. Wendy Williams (1.4, up 27%), which saw its eponymous host return, tied with Maury (1.4, unchanged).
SHAREABLEE SOCIAL TV RATINGS:Top 10 US Shows Overall by Engagement for the week of March 26, 2018
Program, Total Actions (000), Total Content, Actions per Content (000), Fans/Followers (000)
E! News (E!) 8507, 752, 11, 32679
Riverdale (The CW) 3860, 56, 69, 6565
Shadowhunters (Freeform) 2741, 159, 17, 4496
Grey’s Anatomy (ABC) 1809, 50, 36, 31860
American Idol (ABC) 1517, 319, 5, 16089
Supernatural (The CW) 1425, 30, 48, 22317
The Walking Dead (AMC) 1352, 65, 21, 49974
Fox & Friends (Fox News Channel) 1265, 590, 2, 3926
Roseanne (ABC) 1263, 117,11, 1281
TMZ (Warner Bros./synd.) 1031, 1291, 8, 14152
Includes the total volume of post-level likes, shares, favorites, retweets and comments. Total content includes all posts, tweets and media posted by each TV property across all platforms. Actions per post metric notes the average number of actions garnered by each TV property. Total fans/followers include Facebook and Twitter and Instagram followers.
Top 13 Broadcast Programs Among A18-49 ratings/share for the week of March 26, 2018
ABC: Roseanne 5.2/21
ABC: Blackish 2.6/10
CBS: The Big Bang Theory 2.5/12
ABC: Splitting Up Together 2.1/8
CBS: Young Sheldon 2.0/9
NBC: The Voice 2.0/8
FOX: Empire 2.0/9
ABC: Grey’s Anatomy 1.8/8
NBC: Jesus Christ Superstar Live 1.7/7
ABC: The Good Doctor 1.7/7
NBC: The Voice 1.7/7
CBS: Survivor 1.7/7
ABC: American Idol 1.7/7
Top 10 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of 3/19/18 ranked in order by HH Rtg
Judge Judy (CTD) 6.7 AA
Family Feud (2/T) 6.4 AA
Jeopardy (CTD) 6.0 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 5.7 AA
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 5.0 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 3.4 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 3.1 AA
Dr. Phil (CTD) 3.0 AA
Hot Bench (CTD) 2.4 AA
Modern Family (2/T) 2.4AA
Top 12 M-F Syndicated Strip Series for the week of 319/18 ranked in order by A18-49 Rtg
The Big Bang Theory (WB) 2.0 AA
Family Feud (2/T) 1.7 AA
Judge Judy (CTD) 1.3 AA
Modern Family (2/T) 1.3 AA
Wheel of Fortune (CTD) 1.2 AA
Jeopardy (CTD) 1.2 AA
Family Guy (2/T) 1.2 AA
Entertainment Tonight (CTD) 0.9 AA
The Goldbergs (SPT) 0.9 AA
Inside Edition (CTD) 0.7 AA
The Last Man Standing (2/T) 0.7 AA
The Cleveland Show (2/T) 0.7 AA
Broadcast Evening News Shows Weekly Average Ratings week of March 26, 2018
ABC World News Tonight 8.59 million total viewers; 1.5/7 and 1.75 million A25-54
NBC Nightly News 8.27 million total viewers; 1.6/5 and 1.92 million A25-54
CBS Evening News 6.14 million total viewers; 1.1/5 and 1.35million A25-54
Broadcast Morning News Shows Weekly Average Ratings week of March 26, 2018
ABC: Good Morning America 4.09 million total viewers; 1.1/10 and 1,302,000 A25-54
NBC: Today 3.78 million total viewers; 1.1/11 and 1,341,000 A25-54
CBS: This Morning 3.31 million total viewers; 0.8/8 and 947,000 A25-54
Late Night Shows Weekly Average Ratings week of March 26, 2018
CBS: The Late Show 3.20 million total viewers; 0.44/3 among A18-49
NBC: The Tonight Show 1.86 million total viewers; 0.45/3 among A18-49
ABC: Jimmy Kimmel Live 1.83 million total viewers; 0.39/2 among A18-49
Live + Same Day Viewers AA (millions) Monday, April 2, 2018 time period averages
Source: NTI, Galaxy as dated Live+SD
NBC: 7.09 million
The Voice 9.91, Good Girls 4.27
ABC: 6.27 million
American Idol 7.08, The Crossing 5.45
CBS: 5.68 million
The Big Bang Theory 7.02, Young Sheldon 6.56, The Big Bang Theory 6.01, Livingly Biblically 4.24, NCIS 4.57
FOX: 1.74 million
Lucifer 1.70, The Resident 1.78
UNI:1.10 million
El Rico y Lazaro 1.18, Papa a toda madre 1.04, Por Amar Sin Ley 1.07
CW: 1.09 million
DC’s Legends of Tomorrow 1.25, Penn & Teller: April Fool Us Day 0.92
TELE: 0.80 million
Jose, Jose Principe de la cancion 0.65, Al otro lado del muro 0.80, Enemigo Intimo 0.96
Monday A18-49: NBC 1.5/6, ABC 1.3/5, CBS 0.9/3, FOX 0.4/2, UNI 0.5/2, CW 0.4/2, TELE 0.4/1
EXECUTIVE MOVES
ABC Owned Television Stations Group promoted Jennifer Mitchell to the newly created position of Senior Vice President, Content Development. She had been Vice President, Content Development.
First Look Media hired Drew Wilson as Chief Financial Officer. He joins from AwesomenessTV, where he was also CFO.
Studio 71 appointed Andrew Strauseras Senior Vice President of Unscripted Content. He was previously Head of Unscripted at Jennifer Lopez’s production company, Nuyorican (World of Dance).
Richard Calacci, former CRO of Bleacher Report, is joining Pluto TV as their first CRO.
Steve Phelps was elevated to Chief Operating Officer of NASCAR. He joined NASCAR in 2005 after serving as a senior executive with the National Football League and Wasserman Media Group.
Optomen Productions launched a Los Angeles based entertainment division and appointed Elwin De Groot as Senior Vice President of Development. He had been an executive at Armoza Formats.
Oath hired Joanna Lambert as General Manager of Finance and Tech. She previously served as Vice President of Consumer Financial Services at PayPal and Senior Vice President Product and Operational Excellence at American Express.
High Times Media named Brian Rucker as Head of Events and Partnerships. He joins from Pandora Media, where he was Head of Live Industry Relations.
This Day in History: 1987 – FOX Broadcasting Network debuted.
Answer to Our Last Trivia Question: What was ABC’s longest running one-hour primetime drama before Grey’s Anatomy? NYPD Blue (1993-2005). Kudos to: Aprile Brown-NBB Media Solutions/Washington, DC; Matt Biscuiti-The Lippin Group/NYC; Gary Bixenspan-TV Marketing Inc./NYC; Andy Pittman-TAMU/College Station, TX; Kyle Krebs-KXAS-TV/DFW, TX; Mike Moore-Dish Network/Englewood, CO; Kevin Moran-Blarney Productions/Pasadena, CA; Tom Moore-Kalt Productions/Los Angeles, CA; Greg Stewart/Los Angeles, CA; John Ferlazzo/London, UK.
Today’s Trivia Question: Where did the Wraith implant a tracker on Ronon Dex on Stargate Atlantis (2004-2009)? (Email [email protected] with your answer and be sure to include your name, company, city and time zone. Unofficial rules: a limit of four
Answer to Our Last Anagram: Bullet Shelters = Hill Street Blues. Kudos to: Mandy Ledbetter-Discovery Reach/NYC; Paul Blutter-Walk and Talk Production Rentals/Burbank, CA.
Today’s Drama Series Anagram:A Lots Belong (Email [email protected] with your answer; first three respondents with the correct answer who aren’t in trivia will be posted in tomorrow’s newsletter.)
